Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention is related generally to communications and, more particularly, to networks and methods for specification and delivery of information via a telephone interface.
2. Description of the Background
One of the hallmarks of today""s information age is the ability to receive or access information virtually anywhere. No longer are certain media outlets, such as radio and television, the only resources for up-to-date information. Rather, in today""s environment, access to information is ubiquitous. For instance, advancements in the wireless telecommunications industry now permit people to remain in contact with, for example, their family, co-workers, clients, etc., even when they are mobile. Additional advancements in technology now also permit people to access computer networks when they are away from their desktop computer.
In addition, the proliferation of the Internet and its World Wide Web have contributed greatly to the ease of access to information. Examples of how the Internet is used to provide relevant and up-to-date information specific to a user include web sites, such as My Yahoo(copyright) (my.yahoo.com) (My Yahoo(copyright) is a registered trademark of Yahoo Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.) which allow the user to customize information to be provided on personalized web pages, and news tickers, such as EntryPoint(trademark), from Launchpad Technologies, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., which provide xe2x80x9ctoolbarsxe2x80x9d appearing on a personal computer user""s screen which continuously Of It stream customized information content. Utilizing such web features, a user may specify certain categories of information, such as world news, business news, local news, sports scores and news, stock quotes, weather, television programming, and local movie listings. Information about each of these categories is then displayed to the user each time the service is accessed, such as when the user logs onto their personalized web site. Moreover, the user typically may format the manner in which such information is displayed. In addition, such personalized web sites often include links, such as HTML links, to sites including more detailed information about the information displayed. Accordingly, a user who is displayed a particular headline may then link to another web site containing more detailed and up-to-date information about the story.
In addition to such personal computer (PC) applications, the Internet may now additionally be accessed from some wireless telephones, including the QCP(copyright)-2760 and pdQ(copyright) wireless telephones from Qualcomm Inc., San Diego, Calif. (QCP and pdQ are federally registered trademarks of Qualcomm Inc.) These wireless telephones include PC-like browsing software for real-time wireless access to, for example, certain text-only versions of popular web sites. The web pages are visually displayed on LCD displays incorporated into the wireless telephones.
Despite the ubiquity of the Internet, however, access to such personalized information content may only be achieved when a personal computer (or similar device) or certain wireless devices, such as the above-described wireless telephones or a personal digital assistant, are available, which may be inconvenient at certain times and locations. In addition, PCs or similar devices are too expensive for some segments of the population, who are, therefore, ill-positioned to benefit from the above-mentioned technological advancements. Accordingly, there exists a need for a mechanism to provide such personalized information content in an easily accessible, inexpensive and efficient manner. There also exists a need for providing such customized information content in an up-to-date, or real-time, fashion.
The present invention implements a practical manner in which people may access customized information content via a telephone interface. Thus, according to the present invention, the information content may be accessed even when a PC or PC-like device including PC or PC-type browsing software is not available. Moreover, the information content may be xe2x80x9cvoicedxe2x80x9d to a telephone user in lieu of the conventional content-less dial-tone used to indicate connectivity to the telephone network.
A subscriber""s customized information content profile is stored in a database. The profile may outline the categories of information for which the subscriber wishes to receive information content, and may be established and customized using, for example, a PC in communication with the database according to conventional PC-type browsing software. According to another embodiment, the information content may be customized using a telephone and audio-based interface formats.
The database is in communication with a server. The server generates an interface document containing the customized information content based on the profile stored in the database each time access to the information is sought. The information content for each of the categories of information in the subscriber""s profile may be stored in the database storing the profile, or may be stored in another database in communication with the server. The server generates the interface document in a format suitable for the mode of access. For example, if access is sought using a PC or similar device, the server generates the interface document in a format suitable for the PC-type browsing software. If, however, access is sought using a telephone, the server generates an audio-based interface document. An example of an audio-based interface format is VoiceXML (Voice eXtensible Markup Language), a web interface language having tags, formats, and structures specific to voice applications.
The server is in communication with an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) of a telephone network. An AIN is typically integrated with a telephone network to provide call processing features and services that are not realizable within the conventional switching circuit of the telephone network. The AIN may include a Service Switching Point (SSP) switch and an intelligent resource server (IRS) such as, for example, a compact service node (CSN). When access to the customized information is sought via a telephone interface, the xe2x80x9ccallxe2x80x9d is routed to the IRS. The IRS maps the incoming call to the audio-based interface document generated by the server. The IRS also includes an audio-based interface interpreter for converting the audio-based interface document to a voice format, such that the information content may be voiced to a user over the telephone. The telephone may be, for example, a landline telephone in communication with the AIN or a wireless telephone in communication with the AIN via a wireless network.
For an embodiment in which the server generates VoiceXML documents of the information content, the IRS includes a VoiceXML interpreter. The IRS may also include a DTMF decoder to recognize digits or characters dialed by a user of, for example, a touch-tone telephone. Certain combinations of digits and characters may be recognized by the DTMF decoder as commands to jump to certain portions of the information content or to retrieve other audio-based interface documents hosted by sites in communication with the server. In addition, the DTMF decoder may detect when a user no longer wishes to access the information content and instead place an ordinary telephone call.
Whether calls are to be routed from the SSP switch to the IRS may be determined by a service control point (SCP) of the AIN. The SCP is an intelligent network platform of the AIN. When an incoming call is received by the SSP switch, a data packet in the form of a query is sent from the SSP switch to the SCP. The SCP determines whether the caller subscribes to the customized information content service. If so, the SCP routes the call to the IRS, which mediates the communications between the subscriber and the server. If not, the SCP instructs the SSP switch to apply conventional dial-up telephone service.
The SSP switch may send the query messages to the SCP in response to triggers. A trigger in an AIN is an event associated with a particular subscriber line that generates the data packet to be sent from an SSP switch to the SCP. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the trigger is an xe2x80x9coff-hook immediatexe2x80x9d trigger, such that when a telephone on one of the subscriber lines goes off-hook, the SSP switch queries the SCP. Thus, for a subscriber line the information content may be voiced to a user rather than using the conventional dial-tone, which lacks information content except to indicate connectivity to the telephone network. The trigger may also be a feature code trigger, such that a user of the telephone for a subscriber line may enter a certain code before the SCP routes the call to the IRS. Thus, different users of the same telephone for a particular subscriber line may each access separate personalized information content. Moreover, one user""s information content may remain confidential with respect to another user of the same subscriber line.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a manner in which personalized information content may be accessed when a PC or PC-like device is not available. In addition, the present invention provides access to updated personalized information to persons who cannot afford a PC or like device, or who are visually-impaired. Furthermore, the present invention presents a manner in which to convert a formerly content-less information mode in society (i.e., the conventional dial-tone) to a way to disperse personalized information content to users of a telephone. These and other benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description of the invention hereinbelow.